Nael Shama

Recent spending patterns in Egypt pose a dilemma. While experiencing the worst economic crisis in decades, which involves a dwindling of resources, a sharp currency devaluation and an acute shortage of foreign exchange, levels of military spending in Egypt have dramatically increased. How can the two trends be reconciled? Why would a cash-strapped government spend massively on guns when its population of 90 million needs more bread and jobs and services?
This peculiar ...

Bio

Nael M. Shama is a political researcher and writer living in Cairo, Egypt. He is the author of Egyptian Foreign Policy from Mubarak to Morsi (Routledge, 2013). He can be reached at nael_shama@yahoo.com.